By Catherine Reagor | The Republic
When plans to turn the Borgata, a once-posh Scottsdale shopping center, into luxury condominiums were launched five years ago, the response was tepid.
The housing market’s recovery from a devastating crash had just begun, and the allure of condos hadn’t yet caught on in metro Phoenix as it had in other big cities like New York, San Francisco and Chicago.
But when the Enclave at Borgata’s first residents moved into their million-dollar condos early this year, they found plenty of neighbors had already settled in. More than 60 percent of the homes had sold.
Condominium developers are building high-rises near downtowns, luxury loft-style homes next to shopping centers and smaller infill-connected homes in popular neighborhoods of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe at a record pace.